


on brand

by calebwidogast



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, end of ep 124/start of 125, i thought luciens brand would stop fjord from teleporting so i wrote this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:34:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29458326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calebwidogast/pseuds/calebwidogast
Summary: lucien's brand has an unexpected side effect, and fjord is stuck in the outpost without the party.essek has to deal with it.
Relationships: Fjord & Essek Thelyss
Comments: 6
Kudos: 62





	on brand

“...so.” essek says. “this lucien  _ branded _ you with hemocraft, which is a dangerous and taboo art, and you… forgot.”

“yeah, that about sums it up.” fjord says. “you can do the, uh-” he gestures between his mouth and his temple- “message thing? so we can tell them, you know…”

“that we have no idea why you’re still here.” essek finishes the sentence, the barest hint of a grimace making its way onto his face. “they’ll be delighted to hear that. from me.”

“tell them we’re working on it, then. it’s some blood voodoo shit, they know it’s not your fault.” fjord shrugs. he makes that face he makes when he’s about to say something either very hit or very miss. “and hey, perks for you, right? something new to study. keep your mind off things, like i said.”

essek puts a hand over his mouth and looks up at the ceiling as he takes a steadying breath. “right.” he drops his hand and looks at fjord, meeting his eyes and then looking off just slightly before he can stop himself. it’s still a lot. “i don’t know that any of the books here would go into detail about hemocraft, seeing as it’s not… pertinent to most of the studying done here. but i can check.”

fjord nods. “so where do we start?”

“oh, you don’t need to-” he starts, then realizes that might not sound the way he would like it to, so he resets. “if you would like, we can start with the books in my chambers here.” he gestures and a book floats off the shelf and into his hand, where he offers it to fjord.

“got it. and we’re looking for… hemocraft, right? anything about blood.” fjord says, taking the book and running his thumb along the corner of the pages.

“that and brands.” essek says, and turns around to pick up his cocoa again. he grimaces when he realizes that it’s cooled, and casts a quick prestidigitation to remedy it. “i’ll, uh- work on that sending spell. make yourself comfortable.” he adds as fjord is already on his way to sit down. he struggles between pleased that fjord hasn’t already asked if he can read the book elsewhere, and worried about the ever-growing danger they present to one another by sitting in the same room.

“oh, right. you actually plan yours out, don’t you?” fjord chuckles as he looks up again.

essek can’t help the smile that crosses his face as he thinks of jester’s messages to him. “yes, i do. she certainly knows how to make each word count, though.”

fjord smiles and opens his book as essek mentally rehearses his message.

finally, he draws the gesture in the air and casts. “jester. fjord is safe here. we are researching the magic that kept him behind. we will update you when we know more. travel safely.”

he waits for jester’s reply. “essek! you keep an eye on him, okay? we were so worried but i know you can protect him, maybe your chamber will be safest-”

and the spell cuts her off. essek processes what she said and decides she has a point. he can keep this room warded well enough, and while it wouldn’t have been comfortable with all of the nein, he can at least extend its protection to fjord while he needs it.

“did she respond?” fjord asks, looking up again, almost anxious.

“oh! yes- sorry, yes, they’re alright. she told me to ‘keep an eye’ on you, and pointed out that my chamber can be well warded quite easily.” essek says, looking at the book in fjord’s hands. “the barracks was too large to ward, but since it’s just you-”

“then it works out.” fjord nods, and breathes out slowly. “alright. not a step away from death for once. okay.”

essek picks up his cocoa so he doesn’t have to respond to that. the whiskey stings his throat and reminds him that he has things to focus on, but he takes another sip anyways before drawing a book off the shelf and opening it at his desk.

he’s used to researching on his own. he likes the quiet of it, the way he can draw away from everything else and focus on just what he’s working on.

it’s becoming apparent to him that fjord is not that way. he taps his fingers loudly enough that essek has trouble tuning it out, and when he finally manages fjord starts bouncing his leg.

he’s trying to be nice. he’s trying to regain their broken trust, and trying not to be the person he was before. so instead of snapping like he wants to, he says, after an hour and a half, “fjord, i assure you that i can handle looking into this on my own. i don’t want to… force you into it.”

“what?” fjord looks up again, and essek can see his brain catching up and processing essek’s words as he pulls himself away from the book. that, at least, is something essek is familiar with. “oh, no, i want to get rid of this fucking thing as soon as possible. i’m sure if there’s anything you’ll find it, i just- sitting around with a book is a little better than sitting around doing nothing, right?”

essek nods. “that… is true.” he usually prides himself on his tact, but now he can’t come up with anything to say. “you don’t research often, do you?”

fjord’s cheeks darken, subtly enough that if essek hadn’t spent his life engrained in den politics he wouldn’t have seen. fjord says, “it’s more beau and caleb’s thing. was i tapping? beau’s called me out on it before.”

essek can just picture it. “it’s, ah. not a problem.” he almost-sighs, because he’s being nice and if he wants to be their friend again this is a small price to pay.

fjord levels him with a look and essek knows that fjord knows it’s distracting him. “how about i go gather up the books from that other room? there weren’t that many.”

essek lets out an amused breath. “alright.” essek waves the door open and the guard looks over. “would you please accompany our friend to collect some books for me?”

he nods and fjord steps out. essek closes the door behind them and lets out a tense breath, looking up at the ceiling, collecting his thoughts. his list of worries and threats to his life only grows, and even their ‘distraction’ might be one such item.

the brand that fjord had shown him means nothing to essek. he casts minor illusion and displays it in the air in front of him, trying to read anything from the marking, but it’s like nothing he’s ever seen. he can usually parse the general idea of a glyph by looking, but it’s as if this one comes from a family entirely unfamiliar to him.

there’s a knock, and fjord’s voice calls, “got the books!”

essek cracks the door and casts dispel magic out of habit as fjord enters. “er- apologies.”

fjord blinks at him as the door closes. “dispel?”

“yes.” essek says, looking down at his desk. casting at fjord, or any one of the nein, without warning isn’t exactly a great look for him. “force of habit.”

“no harm done.” fjord says slowly, then walks over and sets the books down on the corner of the desk. “i also told them you said i could bring booze, so.” he sets down a bottle of wine just in the corner of essek’s vision.

essek looks up. it’s cheap, but it’s wine. he laughs a little and asks, “where was this?”

“oh, i told them you knew about their stash and they pulled it out from between the shelf and the wall.” fjord says. “now you know about their stash.”

“i don’t suppose they handed over a glass or two.” essek says, picking it up to move it off the corner of a paper.

“nope. gonna have to do it the old fashioned way.” fjord says. he reaches for it and then hesitates. “probably after some more reading, though, right? that’s the responsible thing to do. yeah.”

essek thinks about how he’s almost positive there’s not going to be a mention of hemocraft in any of these books. he thinks about how he’s trying to be honest. “fjord, truthfully? i doubt we will find anything about this brand in any of these books. i want it off of you as badly as you do, but i don’t think there’s anything to be done.”

fjord hums thoughtfully. after a while, he says, “yeah, you’re right.” and picks up the bottle.

essek wonders if he should feel like a bad influence, as he watches fjord pop the cork out and take a swig. he makes a face like he’s trying not to make a face, and when he swallows the face only worsens. “that bad?” essek asks.

“oh, no, it’s… it’s great.” fjord says, giving him a winning smile as he holds out the bottle.

essek laughs and takes it. it’s worse than fjord let on and when he takes a drink it takes every fiber of his being to school his face into something neutral, like he would use in the bright queen’s court.

fjord gapes at him.

essek says, “you’re right.” except his voice cracks and gives him away and fjord snorts. “alright, it’s awful. it must be illegal to consider this wine.” he takes another drink.

fjord takes it back and takes another drink as well. “better than nothing, right? i’m sure the rest of the nein are having the time of their lives with their field trip in nicodranas. we’ve earned this.”

and thirty minutes later, essek is on the pleasant side of tipsy, sitting at his desk while fjord sits in a chair he’s pulled up, holding the bottle with the last splash in it, recounting the nein’s time on rumblecusp.

essek’s heart nearly thuds to a stop as fjord says, “-and then caleb cast disintegrate, and we got-”

“why would he cast disintegrate at a creature that could reflect it back at h- at any of you?”

fjord pauses. “we’d had a weird day, i guess. that’s when we had visions of the city, though, for the first time.”

essek is just buzzed enough that he doesn’t even think about masking the stress in his expression.

fjord continues on. when he finally mentions vess, he darts his eyes over to essek’s face. whatever he sees makes him pause and hand the bottle over, which essek takes without hesitation and downs the rest of it.

the story finally catches up to the present. essek pauses and says, finally, “we are all so fucked.”

fjord laughs. “yeah. yeah, we probably are. glad to have you, though.”

essek laughs, too, and sets the bottle down. he’s careful enough not to put too much weight behind it as he says, “well, it’s the least i can do.”


End file.
